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Assignment 05 – Marlena Esposito

The discussion of sex in the United States if often very limited; it focuses on only straight couples, most of which are both white and probably married or in a romantic relationship. Western society tends to ignore the topics of homosexuality, casual sex, sex outside of marriage, sex for pleasure, and this inhibits the ability for sex theory to develop. This issue is deep-rooted in the history of the United States, with laws that criminalize sexual acts and feelings. Dating back to 1873 with the Comstock Act, pornographic or obscene material was banned along with contraceptive drugs. This implies that sex is not made for pleasure but for procreation, and that having natural feelings of sexual desire is immoral. Throughout the years, the age of consent as been raised; in 1885, it was raised from 13 to 16, and now varies state to state but is typically around 17 to 18. This law brings the implication that children cannot be aware of sex or engaging in sexual acts, and criminalizes consensual sexual acts between two minors. In my opinion, this law is not all bad because it prevents young children from rape and sexual assault, but it is unnecessary for it to be a crime for two consenting 16 year olds to have sex. This relates to the movement of the rising use of the term “sex offender” in the 1950’s. This term was often aimed at the LGBTQ+ community, but also cracked down on people who possessed child pornography. I also do not see this as a bad thing because child pornography is completely wrong, but this law did ban historical and art pieces that contained naked children which were not sexual at all. There is a common implication in the United States that nudity is equivalent to sexuality, when in fact people use nudity as a form of art and the naked body is not inherently sexual. The criminalization of human sexuality continues when homosexuals were increasingly targeted in the mid to late 1950’s. Homosexuals were associated with communists, were considered mentally ill, and were used as a scapegoat. Many Americans placed their frustration with the state of the country at the time on the gay community, which led to many police raids of gay bars and areas and increased queerbashing. Many of these issues still exist today. Often sexual acts are considered only okay in a monogamous relationship or marriage, and women are often called degrading names for enjoying sex. Although homosexuality is more accepted, there is still a stigma surrounding it. People believe that lesbian sex is not real because there is no penis involved, and that gay sex is unnatural and immoral. These issues were created out of tension with societal problems, and have still not been solved. Sex theory will not develop until these issues are solved in our society.